Editor's Note: The following letter is nearly identical to a letter to the editor posted Nov. 18, 2010 on WacoTrib.com and signed by Alfred W. Evans, Gatesville. Other versions of this letter have appeared in numerous locations online.

To the Editor:

Put me in charge of food stamps.

First thing I'd do is get rid of SNAP cards. No cash for Ding Dongs, Ho Ho's or snickety snacks of any kind. Just vouchers for 50-pound bags of rice or beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you could haul away.

If you want steak and pizza, then get a job.

Put me in charge of Medicaid.

The first thing I'd do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal legations. Then test all the recipients in the family for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine.

If you want to reproduce, use drugs, swill alcohol, or smoke then get a job.

Put me in charge of government housing.

Have you ever lived in a military barracks? All tenants will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your home will be subject to inspections at any time. Your possessions will be inventoried.

If you want a giant TV or an Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place to live.

Put me in charge of welfare altogether!

You will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a government job. This job may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, working on a farm to provide food for welfare recipients or whatever else we find for you.

We will sell your 22-inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and put that money toward the common good!

Before you think that I've violated someone’s rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our taxpayer money, accept our rules.

Before you say that this is demeaning and could ruin their self-esteem, consider that it wasn't that long ago that taking someone else's money for doing absolutely nothing was illegal and called stealing. Now wouldn’t this be demeaning and lower your self-esteem.

If we are expected to pay for other people's mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system tends to reward them for continuing to make bad choices.

Two last things…while you are on government assistance, you cannot receive an income tax return. How is it acceptable to return something you have never paid in to?

Also while you are on government assistance, you cannot vote! Yes, that is correct. For you to vote would be a conflict of interest.

You will voluntarily remove yourself from voting while you are receiving welfare.

If you want to vote, then get a job.

John Crump

Malone